{"id":11205,"date":"2023-11-08T15:08:34","date_gmt":"2023-11-08T20:08:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/?p=11205"},"modified":"2023-11-16T10:22:39","modified_gmt":"2023-11-16T15:22:39","slug":"an-ocean-of-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/issues\/fall-2023\/an-ocean-of-data\/","title":{"rendered":"An Ocean of Data"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Ocean of Data<\/h1><\/div><\/div>
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Alaska has 33,900 miles of shoreline, including this scenic section of Glacier Bay. PolArctic has designed an engine to measure and chart nearshore depths on the changing Alaska coastline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lauren Decker, M.S. \u201909, a Yup\u2019ik Alaska Native, is chief scientific officer for PolArctic, an ocean and data science company that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning\u2014informed by Indigenous knowledge\u2014to help businesses in the Arctic operate safely, profitably, and sustainably.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Alexander Castro<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lauren Decker loved bugs. Butterflies, beetles, ants, moths, cockroaches and other grubs. She loved them so much that she thought they’d be her life\u2019s work. She told her first-grade teacher she\u2019d be an entomologist one day.

Childhood fantasies tend to lack in specifics, however, and Decker\u2019s dreams of entomology were slowly squelched. By the time she arrived at the University of Washington as an undergraduate, Decker realized the sheer variety of sciences she could study. Decker remembers thinking, \u201cI don\u2019t know what kind of scientist I want to be now!\u201d

You might say she still works with bugs, albeit not the squishy kind. Debugging is only part of what Decker does as chief scientific officer at PolArctic LLC. Working alongside the company\u2019s CEO (who is also her sister), Decker is in charge of programming sophisticated frameworks that map, model, and predict the ever-changing Arctic.

Coding can be demanding, solitary work, but it\u2019s a good fit for Decker: \u201cI am very much a \u2018sit-in-my-office-and-program\u2019 kind of person,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s so ingrained. My dad\u2019s a programmer. I\u2019ve been programming since I had to sit on his lap to reach the keyboard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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Fishing boats in Seward, Alaska. Seafood and fishing are vital to Alaska\u2019s economy. PolArctic recently secured a $1 million NSF grant to forecast climate change impacts on fisheries stocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PolArctic Helps Keep the Arctic Working<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So, what does Decker do in her office all day? \u201cI\u2019m doing exactly what I wanted to do in terms of AI (artificial intelligence) and machine learning,\u201d she says. She\u2019s coding new technologies for businesses, governments, and Indigenous communities to help decipher a capricious (and climate-ravaged) Arctic.

One hot product from PolArctic is the Ice3 Model, a neural network algorithm that can render high-resolution predictions about when and where sea ice will be present. Using historical data and trends, the algorithm helps determine where ice may break or freeze. It\u2019s a valuable tool for trades like fishing. Crabbers, for instance, tend to congregate at the ice edge, where frost poses a tangible and present threat.

\u201cYou don\u2019t want to be overwhelmed by it and have your crab pots frozen in,\u201d Decker explains. Using Ice3, fishers can make smarter moves about where to set up camp. So, too, can ships or barges use Ice3 to help steer through narrow rivers to deliver heating oil and other supplies to Alaskan communities.

\u201cAlaska is really on the edge of nowhere. We have to transport our seafood harvest and all resources tremendous distances,\u201d says Garrett Evridge, director of AFDF Startup Accelerator, an Anchorage-based program that seeks to supercharge Alaskan businesses in a sustainable way.

PolArctic is part of the AFDF Startup Accelerator portfolio of businesses, a group of 12 that includes similarly eco-oriented companies like Net Your Problem, a company that recycles fishing gear, to more traditional commodity producers like AlaSkins, a brand of dog treats made from dried Alaskan fish.

Evridge says the organization helps its cohort \u201cengage with potential customers,\u201d a role he\u2019s happy to play when it comes to PolArctic: \u201cI\u2019m a fan and a supporter of PolArctic.\u201d

John Farrell, the executive director of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission\u2014and former associate dean for research and administration at äçÐÄvlogÃâ·ÑBÕ¾\u2019s Graduate School of Oceanography, Decker\u2019s alma mater\u2014is impressed with PolArctic, too.

He says, \u201cI don\u2019t often cross paths with two young female entrepreneurs who decide to strike out on their own and start up a company focusing on oceanographic and data science products for the Arctic region. That\u2019s an unusual and rare combination.\u201d

Evridge agrees: \u201cAs an Alaskan, I\u2019m glad to know we have scientists like Lauren working on these challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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